I actually want to put Free/Discounted Clinics out of business by making them unnecessary. As for me, I’m volunteering in a Free Clinic and I would find not being needed to be a HUGE win. I can imagine nothing better than to not be needed because my colleagues were willing to help me to help animals.

This is all about helping the animals and helping the people struggling to survive in this troubled world to be able to afford the love of a happy, well cared for pets.

The bottom line is that if you implement the “Love Fund – (or whatever you call it)” it will save you money in taxes, allow you to help more clients and patients and hopefully make the work I’m doing obsolete. The only reason Free/Discounted Clinics exist is because veterinary care has gotten too expensive for most of the pet owners. The way most of us are trying to deal with this declining client pool is to charge more and more, offer Groupon deals and try to attract the clients that can afford it. And there are fewer and fewer of them out there.

This program is a way to completely do away with unpaid charges and clients not being able to afford our services. And if your practice is using the accrual method of accounting it will actually help you to legally pay less tax. This is not an Angel fund. There are no actual payments into the fund.

– What you do is put a negative charge into the Love Fund patient history and post it. That negative charge can be as little or as much as you want. It can be a memorial donation.

– You then post it to the client accounting window. This creates a negative charge.

– Now when someone comes in and they can’t pay the full amount you can split bill the fund for whatever they can’t afford (you’ve got to have faith but in all the time I used that fund I rarely had anyone try to abuse it) and if you need more you can just post more to the Love Fund account. This way you don’t have to send them out the door feeling like veterinarians are just in it for the money and don’t care about animals and ultimately the client can get the best care for their pet. The most import thing is that you’re now the Hero, not the Villain.

– This will also give us an incentive to do Problem oriented medicine, be willing to do something they can afford and not what costs the most, not do unnecessary tests and not just treat symptoms (which is very expensive for the client and mostly makes the pharmaceutical companies and Uncle Sam richer). Just do whatever has the best chance of making the pet better for what they can afford.

And if you’re using the fund and are on the accrual accounting system your posting negative charges decreases your income and using this system there are no accounts receivable and bad debts.

When I was using this fund at my solo practice (Williamston Veterinary Hospital) in Martin County (one of the poorest counties in Eastern NC) I was grossing close to $500,000 during the last recession, with 40-50 new clients a month and I had $0.00 in accounts receivable, no bad debts and I was able to help all the animals regardless of the clients ability to pay. Using it in our Free Clinic I grossed close to $10,000 in donations in June with a net of $7,000. I have no employees and am getting between 15-38 new clients a week.

Lastly, and most importantly, you have to get your staff involved. But when you do, you’ll be amazed about how much happier everyone in the organization becomes!

If you have any questions I’d be happy answer them.

Rick Harlow

President and Veterinarian

Phoenix-Agape Humane Society

Phone # 423-800-5999

Fax: 423-800-5989

]]>Vets Start 501(c)(3)http://p-ahs.org/2015/08/06/vets-start-501c3/
Thu, 06 Aug 2015 19:00:41 +0000http://p-ahs.org/?p=3943If you want to start a practice like this anywhere in the country we would love to help you do it.

We have a simple business plan ( perhaps not the best term since we are a non-profit but I don’t know what else to call it). All services are free with any dollar donation to our Humane Society. We have clients so grateful that they are literally trying to give us their last three dollars.

We started as a nonprofit in July of 2014 and received only $1,012.38 in donations. In the 12 months since we have seen a 9x increase in donations to $9728 in June. Last week on one day alone I did 9 spays and neuters.

I’m living on my social security of $1389 per month and I have never been happier.

You can’t believe the thanks in the eyes and the love you receive when you help somebody by helping their pets. There’s no amount of money that can equal that love. And being able to help animals was the reason I became a veterinarian in the first place.

If you own a practice I’d like to show you how you can turn it into a facility that is truly helping the animals.

If you are looking for a practice that helping the animals and you want to do the same I would like to pass this practice to you so you can continue to do its work.

Check out our practice at P-AHS.org and if you or anybody you know would like to help us please contact me at info@p-ahs.org.

Make more money – align yourself with a non profit that solicits funds to help your clients pay for services that they can’t afford.

Help more animals – become a non profit

Both help more animals and make more money – good Sam fund

Start a non-profit

Retired/Want to Early Retire? Volunteer for a non-profit

]]>Pugle’s ‘Rocky’ Roadhttp://p-ahs.org/2015/04/08/pugles-rocky-road-to-recovery/
Wed, 08 Apr 2015 19:21:57 +0000http://p-ahs.org/?p=3852Three days before Christmas Pugle started having a lot of bleeding and problems passing urine. According to the owner a local vet diagnosed it as a stone and said it would cost at least $700 for the surgery. The owner was low income. She called a member of CCAC on Christmas Eve. Basic instructions were given to her as far as care based on Dr Harlow’s instructions until Pugle could be seen after Christmas (he was out or town). After Christmas he removed the stone which was the size of a pigeon egg!

Here’s Pugle now:

]]>Lassie’s Storyhttp://p-ahs.org/2015/04/08/lassies-story/
Wed, 08 Apr 2015 19:17:45 +0000http://p-ahs.org/?p=3849Lassie had a tumor growing out of the side of her mouth. It had been growing for some time and as you can see in the photo it was now the side of a baseball and interfering with hr eating. Children (whom she loves) were afraid of her and people stared at her. Her owner checked with her veterinarian to see how much it would cost to have it removed and at that time (when the tumor was much smaller) the cost was $950-$1000 and that did not include any cancer therapy afterwards. She tried to save up for it but every time she had some put back and emergency would arise. She had a minimum wage job. She called CCAC who referred her to Dr. Harlow with P-AHS. He removed the tumor and started her on cancer therapy (which she will take the rest of her life). From 3 feet away you cannot tell she had had surgery. You have to get up close (see picture below). It has been over 5 months and there is not sign of tumor regrowth. According to her owner Alison Lassiter, “She is very healthy and happy. She loves to greet strangers when we are in public and now children are not afraid of her anymore because of the tumor.